Last night I came back from Milan. I didn’t spend my day in the city though, as a few friends and I decided to go visit a town called Bergamo. When you have only 24 hours in a city you have to make the most of the precious time you’re given.
We definitely made the right choice!
Spending the day in Bergamo
We were lucky to find a beautiful, sunny day at our arrival in the city, since we were told that the day before it had been raining all day and the same was going to happen the day after when we were supposed to leave. We were actually met by grey clouds and rain in Toronto anyways, so the bad weather did in the end reach us as well.
We took the train from Milano Centrale, Milan’s station, and got to Bergamo in about 50 minutes. The train ride was very smooth and peaceful.
We arrived in the small town and we were greeted by beautiful blue skies and beautiful buildings.
Bergamo is divided into two parts: “Città Alta” (Upper Town) and “Città Bassa” (Lower Town). The Upper Town is surrounded by walls and is located at a higher altitude, while the Lower Town although still very ancient, has been modernized over time.
The Walls in Bergamo were declared World Heritage by UNESCO in Krakow, Poland on July 10, 2017.
We ended up walking all the way up to the Upper Town and spending most of the day looking around. The view from the Città Alta was amazing. Being surrounded by so much history is almost overwhelming. We visited the Old Square and Palace of the Reason and saw the interior of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and the Colleoni Chapel.
La Città Alta can be reached by foot, as we did, through the stairs that connect the two parts of the town, or with the funicular or by bus.
I strongly suggest you visit this town at least once in your life. It’s one of the few towns left in Italy along with Ferrara, Lucca, Verona, Padua, Treviso and Grosseto, that have kept their historic appearance intact through the years.
